Honda Motor Co. Ltd., in a bid to become a leader in car safety, has announced that it will add several safety features as standard equipment on most of its vehicles sold in the United States by the end of 2006, according to Reuters. All Honda and Acura vehicles will be equipped with side curtain air bags as well as traditional side airbags and anti-lock brakes by the end of 2006, Honda said. Three low-volume models — the Insight hybrid car and the Acura NSX and Honda S2000 sports cars — will be excluded from the program. Honda will also equip light trucks, including SUVs and minivans, with its vehicle stability assist system to improve handling, and sensors to trigger side curtain airbags if the vehicle is about to roll over. In addition, to address growing concerns of deadly crashes between large SUVs and smaller cars, Honda will use a new body structure to better protect vehicle occupants while reducing the risks to other vehicles. Honda's new advanced compatibility engineering structure, which uses a redesigned front-end structure to disperse energy over a larger area in a crash, will be rolled out on all new-vehicle platforms over the next six to seven years. The Honda Odyssey minivan and the Acura RL sedan will be the first U.S. models featuring the new technology. As part of Honda's concept to offer "safety for everyone," a tagline which may be used in upcoming advertising campaigns, the automaker will also add features to future models that reduce injuries to pedestrians in car crashes.